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Many of the tactics that I apply to less-advanced starting states can be used with the Ottomans. The first is limiting your early goals to suit your economic development.
I believe the Ottomans start with an Interventionist & Protectionist party to begin. Do not change this party. Keep taxes at 33% unless you need to raise the taxes for the lower class to make a decent profit. Use your early funds to promote clergy in your provinces for two reasons: 1) it raises your research point accumulation (make sure to fund education at 100%) and 2) it lowers consciousness in states, which helps greatly with a multi-ethnic empire like the Ottoman. I find two clergy per state is enough (you wouldn't want to take too many POPs out of the workforce, especially if your ruling party has Moralism as you cannot de-promote clergy under that type of government).
Your war with Egypt should be of no problem as you have something the Egyptians largely don't - a navy. You can skip over campaigning in the Levant and ferry a decent-sized force to capture Alexandria and Cairo. At this point I'm unfamiliar with the events as to the war, but if you can satellite the Egyptians you'll get your national provinces without them turning civilized (can't remember if they go civilized in vanilla Victoria with the victory events). If you can humiliate the Egyptians as well you make your prestige loss on the next war with them will only be 1.
Once you've managed to create a modest income I would promote some capitalists in a few key states (read: with lots of national POPs in them). Once complete (and your budget balanced) switch to a Laissez-Faire party to ensure your capitalists build railroads (assuming you have Revolutions - if not, disregard everything I've written). I would switch to Laissez-Faire as the Ottoman provinces are not very rich so an Interventionist or Protectionist government will reduce the income available for the capitalists to invest. With other states (Spain comes to mind with rich sugar provinces) one can get by with an Interventionist government.
As the capitalists are building your railroads/factories slowly build up your military capacity. If you're tight on cash I would recommend against building a large standing army as the maintenance costs are prohibitive. Focus instead on building up a mobilization pool and a larger naval force. In the Crimean War against Russia many of the choke points of their invasion will abut the Black Sea - a large navy can assist your ground troops with shore bombardment, reducing the Russian armies' effectiveness. Also in aforesaid choke points build a fort and garrison it permanently.
After the Crimean War, you'll have some time to prepare for the next conflict not of your choosing (unless you decide to take many provinces, in which case your BB could trigger a war). Focus during this period in building your industry. You'll be hit with events raising militancy in your Balkan provinces but if you lower your taxes (and utilize those clergy as mentioned earlier) you can keep consciousness down and reduce the risk of POPs revolting. Grant political reforms as necessary to stem rising militancy (only grant social reforms with lots of excess capital on hand).
I believe the Ottomans start with an Interventionist & Protectionist party to begin. Do not change this party. Keep taxes at 33% unless you need to raise the taxes for the lower class to make a decent profit. Use your early funds to promote clergy in your provinces for two reasons: 1) it raises your research point accumulation (make sure to fund education at 100%) and 2) it lowers consciousness in states, which helps greatly with a multi-ethnic empire like the Ottoman. I find two clergy per state is enough (you wouldn't want to take too many POPs out of the workforce, especially if your ruling party has Moralism as you cannot de-promote clergy under that type of government).
Your war with Egypt should be of no problem as you have something the Egyptians largely don't - a navy. You can skip over campaigning in the Levant and ferry a decent-sized force to capture Alexandria and Cairo. At this point I'm unfamiliar with the events as to the war, but if you can satellite the Egyptians you'll get your national provinces without them turning civilized (can't remember if they go civilized in vanilla Victoria with the victory events). If you can humiliate the Egyptians as well you make your prestige loss on the next war with them will only be 1.
Once you've managed to create a modest income I would promote some capitalists in a few key states (read: with lots of national POPs in them). Once complete (and your budget balanced) switch to a Laissez-Faire party to ensure your capitalists build railroads (assuming you have Revolutions - if not, disregard everything I've written). I would switch to Laissez-Faire as the Ottoman provinces are not very rich so an Interventionist or Protectionist government will reduce the income available for the capitalists to invest. With other states (Spain comes to mind with rich sugar provinces) one can get by with an Interventionist government.
As the capitalists are building your railroads/factories slowly build up your military capacity. If you're tight on cash I would recommend against building a large standing army as the maintenance costs are prohibitive. Focus instead on building up a mobilization pool and a larger naval force. In the Crimean War against Russia many of the choke points of their invasion will abut the Black Sea - a large navy can assist your ground troops with shore bombardment, reducing the Russian armies' effectiveness. Also in aforesaid choke points build a fort and garrison it permanently.
After the Crimean War, you'll have some time to prepare for the next conflict not of your choosing (unless you decide to take many provinces, in which case your BB could trigger a war). Focus during this period in building your industry. You'll be hit with events raising militancy in your Balkan provinces but if you lower your taxes (and utilize those clergy as mentioned earlier) you can keep consciousness down and reduce the risk of POPs revolting. Grant political reforms as necessary to stem rising militancy (only grant social reforms with lots of excess capital on hand).
well, at the beginning it is really painful, but from my experience in countries with no capitalists, you have to endure. going into debt isn't an option.